Childlike Wonder - Dwicky's Backstory
by chibihaley
Summary: This story flashes back to the day all the childlike wonder was ripped from Dwicky's heart. The day his foot got stuck in an escalator and there were no aliens in sight. Rated T for gore.


***DISCLAIMER* I do not own Invader Zim or any of the characters mentioned.**

"I swear I saw a UFO, Mom." The lanky teenager testified, "I bet they're among us right now, veiled by some clever disguise!"

He scanned the mall up and down. His mother sighed. She was beginning to tire of the incessant drabble her son recited each day about space and the mysterious contents of it.

"Who is among us, Dwicky?"

"ALIENS!" He exclaimed with an excited hop, "They could be anywhere around here! Maybe one of them is that trash can, or that weenie stand, or maybe it's that guy!" He pointed an accusing finger toward a small man in a bowl hat with a limp flower attached to the front.

His mom batted away his pointing hand. "Don't point. Or accuse little old men for being aliens. You're embarrassing me."

"Sorry, Mom, but you won't be embarrassed when one of them abducts me, takes me up into their crazy space ship and we fly through the stars!" He reveled.

"Of course, dear." She said, not entirely listening.

All she wanted was a peaceful lunch at the Crazy Taco with her little boy, but Dwicky could hardly think about food. He hungered for a taste of the universe. He dreamed that there could not be anything more gratifying than to explore the galaxy and answer all his burning questions about the unknown. Is there intelligent life on other planets? Are we alone in the universe? What untouched wonders are we deprived of here, stuck on Earth? To know or experience all of these mysteries would bring his dreams to life. Only then would Dwicky's hunger truly be satisfied. Only then would his thirst truly be quenched.

But the Crazy Taco would have to do for now.

That was until Dwicky laid his eyes upon the Mysterious Mysteries shop in a dark corner of the mall plaza. His eyes glimmered with awe at the sight of all the paranormal merchandise. The display window showcased items like Big Foot's footstep, ghost catchers, and remote controllable UFOs. A large alien manikin stood tall by the double doors, welcoming and informing customers on the meteor repellant spray sale today. The store magnetized his very being. He simply could not pull himself any further away from it.

"Hey, Mom, can I go to the Mysterious Mysteries shop over there?"

His mom quickly perked up at the idea of getting her son off her tail for a moment, "Yes, that sounds like a great idea. Here's ten dollars." She dug the money out from her purse and chucked it at the boy's face, "If you need anything, I'll be upstairs at the Crazy Taco."

The money slid down into his hands, revealing a smile that nearly occupied his entire face. "Wow! Thanks, Mom!"

The spirited teen jolted into the store, reserving a spare moment to wave at the alien, and took in the dark, spooky atmosphere. The ominous Mysterious Mysteries theme song played on a small TV mounted in the back of the shop. However, his view of the episode was obstructed by the tiny ghosts and vampire bats flying around from strings attached to the ceiling and the rows of isles filled with DVDs, science nonfiction novels, and gadgets used for paranormal investigation. Dwicky let a sharp exhale escape from his mouth. He was filled with pure wonderment.

"Psst." He heard a whisper. He whipped his head around, searching for the origin of the sound. It appeared to have come from a tall figure standing behind the shopping counter to his left. As he cautiously neared the figure, the shadows crawled down to reveal its face. It was a teenager, not much older than Dwicky with a stern look and an authoritative stance. His hands were hidden behind a heavy, black trench coat and, despite the dim lighting in the store, his eyes were shielded by black sunglasses. "Hey kid. You here to stand idly and gawk, or are you in to solve some _real _mysteries?"

Dwicky closed his mouth that he didn't realize was hanging wide open and cleared his throat. "Yes, sir."

"The name's Bill." He adjusted his sunglasses, "So what's your hunting victim? Chupacabras? Sprites? Lawn Gnomes?"

"Aliens, actually." Dwicky grinned, "But I wouldn't say I'm hunting them, necessarily. I'd just like to see one, know what they're all about, or try to communicate with the intelligent species."

"Oh, really?" He raised a brow. "I have something you might be interested in."

Bill took a few steps to a nearby rack stocked with small sized paranormal hunting gadgets, such as flash lights and pocket laser guns. The taller teen glanced around the items once over until he found a colorful box. A plastic sheet on the box made it visible that inside was a metallic sphere scattered with various, oddly shaped protrusions and foreign letters. He picked up the strange device, brought it to the counter, and placed it down none too gently.

"This little beauty is an Alien Homing Device. You press this button and it will send an S.O.S. signal through space. You will be hailing aliens at light speed."

Dwicky's eyes lit up. He couldn't believe something so incredible really existed. "Really?"

"Trust me, I'm training to be a professional. I'm not allowed to say this," He gestured to the isles in the shop, "But I know half of the technology sold in this store is fraud. Do you really believe you can capture a ghost with a vacuum, or slow down a werewolf with a silver bullet?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Dwicky paused to consider it, "Well, with a bullet, possibly-"

"That's all a conspiracy." He cut his customer off. "This," He rested his palm on top of the homing device, "This you can trust to find you real answers."

Dwicky was slightly weary to trust the shady teen, but he couldn't pass up the chance to see a real alien. He had nothing to lose, besides the ten dollars his mother gave him and an extra sixty-three cents he had to scavenge from his pockets.

After making his purchase, Bill handed him a business card and warned, "If you see Count Cocofang, give me a call."

"You got it, Bill!" Dwicky winked at the investigator in training and promptly exited the store, too excited about his new alien sphere to judge Bill's unusual request.

Good idea or not, Dwicky simply could not resist. He ripped the orb out of its packaging and pushed the button on the top of the device. The protrusions unlatched from the sphere, expanding it and revealing its brightly lit core. An incredibly bright light shined and illuminated the foreign alien letters, creating a three dimensional hologram around the sphere.

"Whoa..." Dwicky's mouth fell agape as his thick eyebrows rose. The glow of the orb sent light traveling throughout the shopping mall, attracting a lot of attention. Some of which was entirely unwanted.

"Hey, look! It's Dwicky the dork!" An all too familiar voice called across the plaza.

"Yeah, you can't miss him." A female joked, tagging along close behind her friend.

The two kids were no other than Piv and Deffy: bullies from Dwicky's skool. They had the utmost perfect timing of all.

"What's that weird thing?" Deffy loudly asked the flabbergasted teen as they closed in on him, "Looks like some sort of stupid, overpowered disco ball."

"Aw, did you get us a new toy, freaky Dwicky?" Piv pried with a degrading smirk and leaned over to steal the object.

Dwicky scowled, "You can't take this away from me," He lifted the device above his head in attempt to hail the aliens at a faster rate, "I won't let you!"

The teen sprinted around the mall as the bullies chased after him, shouting insults and making grabs for the glowing sphere. Dwicky pretended to run around the stairs to juke his rivals, opening an escape up the escalator. He dashed, jumped onto the machine, and blew a raspberry at his enemies left in his dust down below.

Piv shoved a blonde lady to the side to lunge at the escalator. Deffy dodged said screaming lady and took the stairs parallel to Dwicky.

"You can't run from us, you nerd!" She teased.

"Oh, yeah?" Dwicky challenged. He shook the Alien Homing Device and thought, _"Come on, aliens, come on... Where are they?"_

Piv was getting dangerously close, pushing past the passengers that stood in his way as the escalator neared the top. Dwicky panicked and started to run again, but he tripped over a step and fell on his face. Piv stomped on Dwicky's ankle to keep him from getting up and slipping away.

Dwicky shrieked. The stomp pushed his foot under the black brush that skirted the rims and inside the cracks of the machine. The gears mangled his toes, ripping apart skin and bone as it pulled Dwicky down to his ankle. It crushed and mutilated his limb the more he struggled to break free. A blood curdling scream resonated in the plaza. Blood sprayed out from the cracks and poured down the stairs, painting them a deep red. The escalator jammed and sparked, and more blood gushed out with the pulse in Dwicky's foot. He yelled until he felt there was no air left in his lungs and writhed in his inescapable pain. He wished the gears would snap his leg apart, free of this endless grinding agony.

Dwicky's pain numbed all his other senses. He blinked a few times to awaken from the blurry haze of his surroundings. His body shook and moved like clockwork. He hesitantly glanced behind him to see his throbbing foot, ankle deep in the escalator. Blood spat out at him, a few drops landing around his face, but he was in too much shock to wipe it off. The world around him moved much slower now. Along with the hellish torment, the sight of his own bleeding leg caused him to feel sick and dizzy. He turned to face the glowing alien orb he still held firmly in his grasp, his fingers twitching uncontrollably. This small item held all of his hope. In his hand contained everything he believed in, everything that inspired him, everything that he wouldn't shut up about- everything.

Yet it was nothing. Where was the space craft? Where was the alien? Where was his hope? Tears fell down Dwicky's cheeks.

"Where are they?" The words were unintelligibly slurred in with the horrifying screams and sobs of his misery. He shouted the words over and over in a pathetic mantra. There were no aliens who received his S.O.S. There were no aliens coming to his rescue.

There were no aliens.

"I am here!" A booming voice responded to Dwicky's questions, "Chief of Mall Security Sergeant Slab Rankle on the j- WHAT? What is this? What have you done?" The sight of the escalator sparking and jerking ignited the sergeant's fury to protect his mall. His assertive voice powered over all others, "No escalator malfunctions in this mall, not as long as Slab and Rankle breathes the sweet aroma of superior customer service. Shut this escalator down immediately! This... This is chaos!" He faced the crowd forming behind him, "Someone get this helpless child out of my escalator, NOW!"

The large, burly man looked with his one wide eye right, then left. All the frightened mall goers huddled with each other behind the muscular security officer. Slab turned his back to them swiftly to face the gory scene. "Very well. I see it is my duty as a certified mall official to extract this small, uneducated delinquent from his cage of modern mall machinery. Never fear, citizens of this plaza, Slab will protect you!"

With a final salute, Slab wrapped his huge, gloved fingers around the teen's head and began to pull. Dwicky wailed louder and shut his eyes, embracing the pain to his best ability. With a couple more swift tugs and swivels, the security guard managed to free Dwicky out from the automatic stair prison without entirely dislocating his foot from his leg. The sight of Dwicky's ankle was sickening. His foot dangled off his leg, as if it were tied to a string. The muscles and bones in his ankle formed a broken zigzag shape. Bright crimson blood spurted out and left a large trail from where he was trapped. His head spun in circles.

Slab lifted the boy, whom he still gripped firmly in his hand to keep his bloody, dismembered foot above the ground, closer to his face to meet eye to eye with the trouble maker. "The elevator is broken. The floor has been vandalized with your blood. You are in indirect violation of code two dash seven four! Do you understand mall safety, boy? We have this warning sticker on the ground to the escalators' entrances for a reason."

The dazed teen peered past his mangled foot to discover the bloody yellow sticker beneath him on the silver platform to the escalator. A picture of a stick figure falling down the escalator illustrated the warning statement directly under it. The text cautioned customers to watch their step, stay within the black brush out linings, and that children must be accompanied by a parent at all times. Had Dwicky been completely conscious, he would have shot the security guard a look of disbelief and anger for blaming him for ruining the escalator instead of having the slightest bit of concern for a severely injured teenager. But he was far from completely conscious. The last thing he could remember about the scene was that Piv and Deffy were nowhere to be found, and his last thought was, "_There are no such things as aliens."_

***Author's Note* **

**This is the first "one shot" I have ever completed! However, I planned for this story to turn into a romance between Dwicky and Mr. Elliot (I basically ship all Invader Zim couples and I just don't see this one too much). I would also like to try to give a story to more unelaborated comments in the TV show such as: The experiment that Dwicky "almost" escaped from where they had to hit him on the head with car doors, the horrible something that happened to the old counselor, and why Mr. Elliot is so happy today. Yeah, that says how many times I've watched every episode of Invader Zim, haha.**

**And I apologize for the OCs; Piv and Deffy are my original characters and used only because I could not find any other characters that would apply to the story and I feel they serve a small but essential purpose in this chapter and in another possible chapter later on. But they are strictly support characters. Although we could just say that Deffy is the secret name of the bus driver lady in the show and Piv grows up to be that guy with the mustache who drools a lot... You know, just random citizens that would be about the same age as Dwicky. I hope you enjoyed the story and if you are interested in a teacher romance, stay tuned!**


End file.
